Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the United States, approximately one in five women are unable to get pregnant
after one year of trying. Due to the pervasiveness of pronatalism in Western society,
having a child is widely assumed to be a natural and expected part of womanhood.
Society’s master narratives reinforce these ideals and stigmatize the experiences of
women who have infertility. This multi-phase research study examined how women
discuss their infertility journey with their friends. The study’s aims were to understand
friendships within the context of infertility, how the relationship affects a woman’s
identity, and the communicative behaviors used in conversations.
Fifteen interviews were conducted with women who experienced or are
experiencing infertility and had discussed their past or current challenges with a friend.
Results of a phronetic iterative analysis suggested that women who have personal
experience with infertility (a) disclose to close/best friends, (b) communicate their
identity as “broken,” (c) desire emotional support, and (d) strategically navigate
conversations as they encounter positive and negative messages. These results were
transformed into a performance, which included six monologues and a talkback. The
purpose of the arts-based methodology was to disseminate results and assess the
performance’s impact. Seventy-three individuals attended one of the two performances in
April 2023, and 50 attendees completed the post-performance evaluation. The
quantitative results suggest that attendees felt informed about the complexities of
infertility, gained a new perspective, received advice about how to have future conversations, and did not feel offended by the content. Through a thematic analysis, four
themes emerged from the two talkback sessions and evaluation comments: being
informed about infertility as a health condition, appreciating the theatrical format to learn,
connecting to the performance to understand the illness experience, and feeling
comfortable navigating conversations about infertility. Despite the variance in infertility
experiences, friends are essential social support figures as women navigate infertility, and
there are best practices when having a conversation, as demonstrated in the performance.
This study’s implications include providing communication strategies to support women
with infertility and recognizing that an arts-based methodology can highlight
counterstories, inform about a stigmatized health issue, and engage the community.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:IUPUI/oai:scholarworks.iupui.edu:1805/34373 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Binion, Kelsey Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Brann, Maria, Beckman, Emily, Bute, Jennifer J., Longtin, Krista J. |
| Source Sets | Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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